Video 2017-05-22T19:26:22+00:00

Global Suburbs:  21st Century Challenges for Sustainable Urban Design in Latin America

Dr. Herzog speaks about the ecological problems of U.S. suburbs, why these flawed design models have been exported to Latin America, and the challenges for sustainable cities in the future.

“Building the Twentieth Century Transfrontier Metropolis” TEDx Talk

Tijuana-San Diego represents one of the great urban experiments on our planet — in an era of globalization and shared cross-cultural ecosystems. This “Transfrontier Metropolis” is a living, working transcultural city that straddles the international border.  In the future, daily urban flows — commuters, shoppers, the movement of goods and services — could be managed via high tech infrastructure — bus rapid transit, light trains, jitneys, trams, or solar-powered people movers — connecting people and economies, within a more resilient, sustainable region.

“Global Suburbs” Lecture at Colegio de La Frontera Norte, Tijuana, Mexico, 2015

A lecture on the emerging phenomenon of global urban sprawl, and its ecological implications.  Herzog targets the export of U.S.-style suburbs to other parts of the world, focusing on Latin America, and especially, the cases of Brazil and Mexico.

“Mexico Today: Changing Cities in the Twentieth Century” lecture at University of California, San Diego. (2014)

The future of Mexico will be played out in its cities, where about 3/4 of the nation’s 115 million inhabitants live. Many critical national policy concerns in Mexico are urban– how to manage one of the world’s largest mega-cities (Mexico City), along with the rapidly transforming and complex northern border cities. Lawrence A. Herzog, Professor of City Planning at San Diego State University and Visiting Professor at UC San Diego argues that three of the biggest challenges facing urban Mexico are globalization, environmental degradation, and the uncertain future of the urban periphery.

“Slow City” Pecha Kucha Night, San Diego lecture (2012)

Lawrence Herzog reflects on the ways in which western cities promote “fast urbanism”– from automobiles to computers–  thus weakening city dwellers’ connection to nature and the joys of ‘slow city’ life.  Architecture and urban design can play a role in creating spaces where citizens rediscover their communities and sense of place.

“Adapting to the New Reality of Increased Wildfire Danger,” KPBS TV panel with Lawrence Herzog and others (2013)

Professor Lawrence Herzog (SDSU) suggests we need to rethink how we understand wildfires.  We must move beyond the idea of being “at war” with nature when a wildfire is burning (eg. focusing only on ‘fighting’ off the wildfire).  Instead, urban regions need to plan for more sustainable design approaches that adapt to the reality of wildfire ecology, including where growth occurs, the form of growth and how communities respond to wildfires when they occur.